On second thought, Sam Mendes probably will direct the next James Bond movie

Following a day in which those Christopher Nolan rumors were joined by short-listed big names like Ang Lee, Tom Hooper, Nicolas Winding Refn, David Yates, Shane Black, the ghost of Orson Welles, Jackie Treehorn, the Steven Spielberg robot that Industrial Light & Magic has secretly been developing, Steven SpielBorg, and on and on in funny list form, Sam Mendes has decided that, okay, maybe he will direct the next James Bond movie. Deadline reports that Mendes is currently set to return to the franchise, despite his recent avowal that, these days, he only had time for the theatre. Bond producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli have reportedly agreed to accommodate Mendes’ upcoming productions of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and King Lear, delaying the start of the 24th Bond film until after Mendes has fulfilled his commitments sometime next year, and is finally ready to return to the plebeian vulgarity of the moving picture. Presumably they’ve also agreed to let him frame every scene in a proper proscenium arch and red velvet curtain, if that’s what it will take to get Mendes to make them another bajillion dollars.